Flashforge 3D Creator forum.

[Geoff]

Not having the spool on a rotatable holder was the reason for non extrusion. I thought it would start and then stop if there was an issue with that but I guess not. Problem solved.

You shouldn't need the spool holder at all - I run most of mine now just with it hanging over the side to reel that sits on rollers...

I think you knocked a cable back into position TBH.

[zfalor]

You shouldn't need the spool holder at all - I run most of mine now just with it hanging over the side to reel that sits on rollers...

I think you knocked a cable back into position TBH.

I would hope the cables are not that easily knocked loose, that would be quite alarming, and poorly built. But as soon as we put it on something that could rotate, which is was just sitting on the ground perpendicular to the machine, it began extruding while printing. Anyhow, thankyou for your timely responses.

[Geoff]

I would hope the cables are not that easily knocked loose, that would be quite alarming, and poorly built. But as soon as we put it on something that could rotate, which is was just sitting on the ground perpendicular to the machine, it began extruding while printing. Anyhow, thankyou for your timely responses.

Not so much cables being knocked loose, more the extruder motor plug possibly not being plugged in firmly. I remove my extruder motors all the time, I often don't plug them in correctly in haste - and if they are not in completely, the movement of the head could make them pop out of the socket during print - human error, not machine error

[dwills15709]

Hi Geoff, I've been printing about a year now with no problems and now this week I'm getting the error below. It doesn't matter whether printing from the card or USB. It heats up fine and starts to print and just stops. Any ideas? Thanks

Serial IO exception:gnu.io.SerialPortalEvent[source=//.COM4, Printer communication may be disrupted

Danny

[Amer11235]

Hello again, thanks for all the help in the past, I hope you guys can help me figure out my latest problem. Both my extruder motors just click and wont feed any plastic. I'm sure it's not a clog, because I've taken the whole print head assembly apart and cleaned it thoroughly. I can see the feeder gear trying to turn, but it just clicks in place. At first it was just my left extruder, now both of them are doing it. I bought a new motor off ebay, and that one doesn't work correctly either. I think it's odd that both motors stopped working almost at the same time and that the new motor doesn't work either. I've ran my printer for about 4300 hours. Any idea what's going on? Thanks.

Edit: Right after posting this I decided to mess with my printer again, and for some reason the left extruder is now working. I have no idea why, because I didn't do anything, it just randomly decided to work again.

[warkmal]

Very unlikely to be the motor. They're apparently very hard to kill. If the motor isn't producing sufficient torque it is more likely an almost break in the wire. To eliminate the clog possibility you should help the extruder along by pushing with your hand. It could be that your Teflon tube has narrowed, they do that when they wear under heat. You may also have wear or sag in the extruder assembly so it isn't holding the idler against the filament very tight. Though the symptom there wouldn't be motor clicking. You'd get the filament slipping against the turning gear instead.

[Amer11235]

They are both clicking again. I'm sure it's not a clogged nozzle, I can push filament though it. I took it apart and saw the feeder gear click in place. Could it be something with the motherboard?

[wirlybird]

They are both clicking again. I'm sure it's not a clogged nozzle, I can push filament though it. I took it apart and saw the feeder gear click in place. Could it be something with the motherboard?

Try swapping out the driver boards with another and see if it makes any difference. Also check that cables aren't loose.

[Amer11235]

The problem does seem to be related to the stepper motor driver. I swapped them around trying to isolate the ones causing the problem, but couldn't recreate the problem consistently to identify the problematic ones. After swapping them all around a bunch the problem resolved itself, but only when the stepper motor drivers are in a specific order. What do you think is going on? Are the motor drivers failing and should be replaced, or could it possibly be something with the motherboard? Thanks again for helping identity the problem

[wirlybird]

The problem does seem to be related to the stepper motor driver. I swapped them around trying to isolate the ones causing the problem, but couldn't recreate the problem consistently to identify the problematic ones. After swapping them all around a bunch the problem resolved itself, but only when the stepper motor drivers are in a specific order. What do you think is going on? Are the motor drivers failing and should be replaced, or could it possibly be something with the motherboard? Thanks again for helping identity the problem

They may be failing but not sure. Maybe bad connections in that area on the board - cables maybe. I haven't bought ones for my FFCP but the ones for my QIDI are not much so I keep a bunch of spares. They may be the same but I am not sure. If they are the same search "QIDI" on eBay and you will find them.